


Complications

by nookiepoweredamazon



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst and Romance, Comedy, F/F, Magic, Smut, this is utter nonsense I am sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-01 06:05:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5194973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nookiepoweredamazon/pseuds/nookiepoweredamazon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A magical mishap causes everyone in Storybrooke to switch powers, and Ruby ends up throwing fireballs while Regina learns to deal with the complications of being a werewolf. (Shameless werewolf-in-heat AU. I’m going to hell.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trashy nonsense that wasn’t done in time for redqueenweek. Inspired by the Opposite Day prompt: _‘A spell gone awry leaves everyone with the wrong powers. Ruby can’t control the fireballs that keep appearing in her hands and Regina has a sudden hankering for raw venison’_ ...and other things.
> 
> As always, beta’d by the fabulous [midnightbokeh](http://midnightbokeh.tumblr.com/). <3

  
It was Tuesday morning when Ruby set the diner on fire.

Surprisingly, it was not her cooking that did it but a particularly long, drawn out stare from Dr. Whale. Which, normally she didn’t mind, even if his hellos started at her chest and ended at her ass; but she was not in the mood after three mixed up breakfast orders and a tear in her favorite leggings. 

So this time, when she could feel his eyes keen on her, something indignant rose up inside her. No, not just indignant, it…

It was not just the usual predatory shifting beyond her bones that came with the wolf, but something _more_ inside of her. Something that heated up her skin and sung through the nerves in her fingertips when she spun around to glare, something bright and _burning_ —

Something _vengeful._

It rushed white-hot behind her eyes and through her hand in an instant, and then Whale’s tablecloth was legitimately on fire. Ruby blinked and realized she had one hand extended, there was a fireball flickering neatly in her palm, and Granny was already in motion, putting out the tablecloth with a fire extinguisher.

“Well, girl,” Granny said with a long-suffering sigh as she sprayed Ruby’s hand until it was soaked and the fire was dead, “I think we all know who you switched with.”

“Hooraaay,” Ruby said hollowly, waving a little sheepishly at Dr. Whale, whose eyebrows were lightly singed.

Luckily this was Storybrook, and most of the other customers hadn’t even gotten up. All the dwarves did was laugh and ask Ruby if she’d like to do a shot of fireball with them over breakfast to mark the occasion. Instead she undid her apron, dropped it off by the front door, and wondered how Regina was dealing with being a werewolf.

 

* * *

 

So far as Ruby understood it, when Blue had tried to energize her wand—the magical equivalent of a tune up, or whatever fairies in the Enchanted Forest did to keep their magic running smoothly—she hadn’t planned on the magic suffused into every fiber of Storybrooke reacting.

The entire world had lurched, something right beyond Ruby’s belly button had _pulled_ , and suddenly the wolf was softer inside her, quieter; as if it were sleeping.

Across town, Belle discovered she was abruptly marvelous with a bow and arrow and Snow wanted nothing more than a good book to read. Dr. Hopper took a sudden interest in carpentry and Gepetto found himself listening fondly to the crickets. Leroy became strangely obsessed with the first knife he found and Rumple wanted, very badly, to swing a pickaxe.

That was Monday night. After a rather confusing town hall meeting, most of Storybrooke spent Tuesday morning trying to work out who they had switched magic with; for they were all, Blue had explained, filled with magic in one way or another—being from the Enchanted Forest—and their magical essences had simply, temporarily, switched.

It would be just Ruby’s luck to switch with one of the most powerful magic practitioners their world had ever known.  
                                                                           

* * *

 

At Granny’s insistence that she was not to come back until she could stop lighting paying customers on fire, Ruby knocked on the front door of 108 Mifflin Street. She waited patiently as she could manage, staunchly ignoring the itching in her palms, until Regina swung the front door open wearing a scowl. (Because apparently years of mostly-almost-peace between her and the Charmings still wasn’t enough to make her stop looking at Ruby like she was Snow’s guard dog.)  
  
“Miss Lucas,” Regina looked her up and down appraisingly, “I thought it might be you.”  
  
“Wake up with a hankering for raw venison?” Ruby asked, trying for an awkward smile. It was not returned.  
  
“Not quite,” Regina said with a dark look, “How can I help you?”  
  
Regina’s arms were folded, face guarded. She was dressed in the usual mayoral getup, skirt and blouse perfectly pressed and heels firmly in place, but there was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead and she smelled…different, somehow. Ruby struggled to pin the scent down, but her wolf senses were only running at about half capacity. She briefly weighed the pros and cons of leaning in for a better sniff, then—with one more look at Regina’s tense expression—decided against it. She smelled good, though. Like, weirdly good...  
  
A bee buzzed too near Ruby’s ear and she swatted at it reflexively as she contemplated Regina’s new scent, sending it into the next world in a literal blaze.  
  
“ _Shit!_ " Ruby held up her flaming hand between them, a fireball hovering warm and heavy in her palm. “Shit, shit.” Ruby flicked her hand from side to side, trying to put the flame out without setting the whole porch on fire. She couldn’t keep the whine from her voice, “This keeps happening."  
  
Regina raised an eyebrow mildly and flicked her wrist, putting Ruby’s hand out with a whoosh of air and a cool hissing sound. “So I see.”  
  
“Thanks…” Ruby shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortably, “I, uh, don’t suppose you know of a more permanent solution?”  
  
Regina heaved a sigh, looking put-upon. “Well, come in then. We’d better get you sorted out before you light my whole town on fire.” She allowed Ruby to follow her past the threshold, closing the door behind them with a heavy click, and then drawled, “I’d hate to enact another dark curse, simply to live in a world where you _haven’t_ scorched everything.”  
  
“Was…” Ruby’s lips twitched, she had no idea the former queen had a sense of humor, “was that a joke?”  
  
Regina's lips teased at a smile. Then she was back to smelling really good and Ruby was doing her best not to sniff too obviously when Regina passed her, leading them out of the entryway with the steady click of heels.  
  
A lot of the women of Storybrooke smelled good, some of the men too, but this was different. It made Ruby’s stomach flip in a way she wasn’t used to and her palms itch for a whole different reason. Regina walked a few paces ahead of her and Ruby had to fold her hands carefully in front of her as they walked, focusing very hard on not setting anything ablaze or staring too obviously at Regina’s butt.  
  
(Not that the staring was really new, but she hadn't checked Regina out since she realized she was more than just their stunningly hot mayor that tipped a little too liberally for her coffee.)  
  
Eventually they came to stop at a door with no discernible knob or handle—Ruby wasn’t even convinced that it originally had hinges—but it sprung open with a wave of Regina’s hand. A few steps further revealed a staircase that descended down into a dark, chilly room that may have once been a basement, but now looked much more like a miniature library. Bookshelves lined the walls while a wooden table occupied the center of the room, topped with what looked like an expansive chemistry set.  
  
“So, I see your magic is still working,” Ruby said conversationally. Regina simply gestured to the candles lining the wall.  
  
Most of them sprung to life, but several of them lit and then flickered back out. With a huff, Regina flicked her wrist again and re-lit the stragglers. “To an extent,” Regina gestured to a plush-looking couch across the room, straightening her cuffs, “This may take some time. Make yourself comfortable.”  
  
Ruby wandered over to the dim, unoccupied portion of the room and sunk down onto the couch, while Regina set wordlessly to work. There was a fireplace in the corner, and when she thought Regina wasn’t looking Ruby unfolded one hand carefully and flicked a finger in the logs’ general direction. To her disappointment, nothing happened.  
  
Then she pictured Whale’s stare, dragging up her thighs, and the warmth sparked beneath her fingertips. She flicked her wrist at the fireplace, but only a sparse sprinkling of sparks left her fingertips.    
  
“Miss Lucas,” Regina said without turning around, “please stop. I’m not sure I’ve got the presence of mind to put out accidental fires."  
  
“Right,” Ruby cleared her throat, only about half contrite. She could light stuff on fire using her bare hands and honestly how cool was that? “It’s just a little cold down here.”  
  
“I thought wolves ran warm,” Regina snarked.  
  
She flicked two fingers and—though, to Regina’s visible irritation, it took several tries—the fireplace sprang to life. It crackled with a soothing, gentle sound and cast the room in soft, warm tones, filing Ruby’s nose like campfire. Ruby curled up on the edge of the couch nearest to the fireplace and watched Regina busy herself over various vials and beakers.  
  
Eventually, Ruby’s curiosity got the best of her. “Can I ask what you’re doing?”  
  
Regina had come a long way the last few years, but Ruby hadn’t quite forgotten Snow running for her life in the Enchanted Forest, twenty-eight years of memory loss, or the time Regina had baked a sleeping curse into an apple turnover. Ruby eyed the vial that Regina was swirling across the room dubiously. It had started emitting a dangerous-looking chain of blue smoke.  
  
“You won’t have to drink anything I give you, Miss Lucas, if that’s your concern,” Regina said knowingly.  
  
There was a bizarre, strained quality to her voice as Regina tipped the smoking vial into another, which gave a satisfying popping noise and belched out a large cloud of purple vapor. Ruby only caught a glimpse of the other woman’s face over her shoulder but she looked agitated, lips tight.  
  
“Right. Uh…”  
  
Regina turned to face her, one eyebrow raised. Her face looked flushed, like the room was far too warm for her even six feet away from the fire. Ruby tilted her head, sniffing again. All she could scent was potions and fire but something was off, and she didn’t think it had anything to do with the potions.  
  
Ruby scrunched up her face, thoughtfully, and asked, “Are you okay?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Are you okay?” Ruby tilted her head a little further. “As in, you look like you’re not feeling very well.”  
  
Regina smiled, but it was precarious. “I’m fine, dear. The full moon is weeks away.”  
  
There was a rosy flush spreading straight from Regina’s cheeks down her chest, her pupils were blown out and dark, and there was a distinct edginess to her every step. Her voice was a low, steady purr, easily an octave below its usual pitch, and…oh _shit._  
  
Oh shit shit shit. Poor Regina.   
  
Ruby cringed, sympathetically, and folded her hands quietly in her lap while Regina got back to work.  
  
Several times Ruby watched Regina losing focus in what she was doing, stop to grip the table firmly for several seconds with her eyes tight shut, and then slowly drag herself back into motion. Ruby curled up into the couch and did her best not to stare.  
  
The next hour drifted away into Regina moving around the room retrieving objects of increasing oddity (Ruby didn’t have a great view, but she was fairly certain one of the last things to go into the potion had been a lizard tail), murmuring incantations, and consulting several dusty, leather-bound books. Regina’s heartbeat was a steady drum amidst a whirl of overpowering scents and strange bubbling sounds, and it was Regina’s heartbeat that Ruby listened to in tune with the cracking of the fire until she’d lost track of time.  
  
By the time Regina was finished Ruby had started to doze and was slow to notice the woman lurking over her, tapping her shortly on the shoulder.  
  
“Mm,” Ruby murmured, sitting up and trying not to be thrown by the sight of the Evil Queen standing over her, “any luck?”  
  
“Of course,” Regina said and pressed a black cuff into her hands unceremoniously, “put this on.”  
  
With a curious blink, Ruby slid the dark leather around her wrist. The cuff itself felt like nothing, but when Regina leaned over to pour the final vial’s contents over it—contents which appeared to be a bright, iridescent liquid, but when poured began swirling through the air like fog, drawing in like a cloud around the leather cuff—she felt the itching in her palms fade, and then stop entirely.  
  
Ruby flicked her hand experimentally, picturing Whale's leer, and nothing ignited.  
  
“Whoa. That’s amazing,” Ruby heaved a sigh and flopped back onto the couch in relief. Even though she kind of reveled in the badassery of being the human torch, having that kind of power was honestly pretty stressful. Not unlike the wolf. “Thank you. If I lit up the diner one more time, Granny would have had me hung.”  
  
The mayor let her shoulders drop and rolled them, and Ruby watched the purple glow fade from her eyes. Regina's lips twitched into a smirk. “You caught the diner on fire?”  
  
Ruby shrugged. “Doctor Whale is a stare-er and apparently, with your magic in my veins, I was not in the mood.”  
  
“Ah, well," Regina chuckled, "us dark magic practitioners are hardly known for our patience.” Regina sunk down onto the couch beside Ruby, stretched some of the stiffness out from her limbs, and then sighed as if to summon what remained of her composure. "Alright, just one more thing." Then, with steady purpose, she reached a hand out towards Ruby’s chest.  
  
To say that Ruby startled at the sight of the Evil Queen reaching for her heart would be an understatement. She practically leapt out of her seat, and must have looked at least half as terrified as she felt because Regina’s easy demeanor vanished, replaced with something tight-lipped and straight-backed as her hand froze.  
  
“Ah.” Her fingertips retracted slightly, several inches over Ruby’s heart. “Of course. I should have asked."  
  
Ruby realized that her lips were pulled back, teeth bared, and she smoothed out her expression quickly as Regina withdrew her hands and folded them safely in her lap. The mayor brushed at non-existent wrinkles in her skirt for several seconds before launching into a calm explanation.  
  
“I wanted to make sure that having my magic running through your veins, however temporarily, hasn’t darkened your heart,” Regina said, with a casual air that did not quite meet her eyes. “If it has, you will need to consult the Blue Fairy about the consequences of her ill-conceived use of magic.”    
  
Ruby swallowed, flushing a little—it had been years since anyone had really seen the Evil Queen, and several years more that the woman before her had been Henry’s Mom, the Charmings’ ally, and simply _Regina_ —and posed an apologetic smile.  
  
“Yeah,” Ruby said, “yeah, definitely. That’s a good idea.” She cleared her throat and added, “Sorry.”  
  
“Not a problem,” Regina looked down at her own hands, carefully, “I quite understand.”  
  
Ruby sat firmly back down and re-angled herself towards Regina, long legs crossed under her and hands clasped decisively in her lap. Regina took a few moments to roll back her sleeve and collect herself, before placing her fingertips gently over Ruby’s sternum. Those brown eyes were dark in the firelight. This close, Ruby could see the shadows cast by Regina’s eyelashes, she could trace the outline of her lips and the shape of her scar.  
  
She could smell her, too, and that was a special kind of intoxicating that Ruby was trying very, very hard not to think about.  
  
“This might feel strange,” Regina said, “but it shouldn’t hurt.”  
  
Ruby simply nodded, and hoped that this magic was going to work better than Regina’s attempt at lighting candles. Then she watched Regina’s wrist flex and twist—watched it vanish—and…  
  
Oh.  
  
_Oh_.  
  
It didn’t hurt, not at all. If anything, the feeling of Regina’s fingertips gliding through her skin, through her bone—moving to wrap ever so gently around her heart—was a strange sort of soothing. Ruby sighed, watching her heart, bright and red and pulsing, lifted gently from her chest and cradled carefully in Regina’s palm.  
  
The former queen hummed tentatively, turning the heart slowly over and over. Ruby leaned in close, never having seen her own heart before, and then looked up to see Regina’s features lit by the combination of magic and flickering firelight. She was gorgeous, in a dangerous, could-literally-kill-with-a-flex-of-her-hand sort of way, and Ruby found herself unable to look away  
  
(Her own heart on display, and she was looking at Regina; she would realize the significance of that later.)  
  
“Just one small black spot,” Regina murmured, pointing to something dark and swirling in the depths of the organ, “maybe two or three minor acts, I can’t say for sure. But, based on the placement, I’d say that this darkness existed before the first curse.”  
  
“I ate my boyfriend,” Ruby said abruptly, staring into the glow; because her heart was literally laid bare before them and so, what the hell. She cleared her throat and glanced up at Regina. “I killed my mom too, so. Pretty sure that’s what that is.”  
  
Regina gave a gentle hum, glancing up at her with what, on anyone else, would look a whole lot like sympathy. “Ah.”  
  
“He was an accident, and she was...dangerous,” Ruby said by way of explanation, looking down at her heart. She eyed the dark spot, brow furrowed, and remembered the single, short day of her life where she’d had a mother.  
  
Regina looked at her with a solemn, unreadable expression and said, plainly, “So was mine.” Ruby wasn’t certain if she meant the boyfriend or the mother, but had the strangest sensation that she might have meant both.  
  
Then Regina was placing Ruby’s heart, gently, back between her ribs, and retracting her fingers through flesh and bone with with one last, careful touch. Almost immediately, Ruby felt strangely bereft of the contact.  
  
“Well,” Regina said, slumping back and looking suddenly rather tired as Ruby’s heart thumped away between her ribs, “I think that should hold you over until Blue sorts her mess out, but do come and see me if you start showing any other signs of magic.” She whirled two fingers idly. “If you accidentally teleport, for example.”  
  
“Yeah, okay. Got it.”  
  
Ruby supposed that was her cue to leave, but there was something about the feel of soft fingertips around her heart, something about the understanding in Regina’s eyes when they had looked at the small darkness in her heart...  
  
Something that made her bold, and maybe kind of stupid.  
  
“Sooo,” Ruby said, twirling a bit of hair between her fingers, “how’s my magic treating you?”  
  
Regina lifted what looked like a suspicious eyebrow, “Fine.”  
  
“You’re not feeling,” Ruby gestured vaguely at Regina’s loose-limbed pose and flushed skin, trying not to blush, “…strange?”  
  
“Edgy,” Regina answered coolly, “but I imagine that’s just the wolf.”  
  
The look Regina fixed her with was unwavering, but Ruby hadn’t lost all of her wolf and she could smell her clearly now—deep and rich, wanting—and her theory for the tension in Regina’s spine was confirmed. Her inability to focus and her exhaustion, the reason why she was dressed for work but pacing around her home…  
  
“There are certain, uh, complications, that arise near wolfstime.” Ruby explained, awkwardly. “Even before the curse broke, I still got…well.” Ruby gestured vaguely to Regina, who was making it clear that she was going to be about as helpful in this conversation as a scowling brick wall.  
  
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Regina responded in the smooth voice of a politician. Only the darkening of her cheeks gave her away.  
  
“Oh come on, Regina.” Ruby dropped her head into her hands, more to hide the smile she shouldn’t be smiling than anything else. But, honestly, the woman should know better than to lie to a werewolf about arousal. “I can…I can smell you and you’re blushing like crazy.”  
  
After a moment of perfect silence she peeked up, and found Regina looking like it was a very good thing her magic was working at half capacity, because otherwise Ruby would never have survived.  
  
“ _Excuse_ me–“  
  
“Hey, come on,” Ruby said as gently as possibly, hands up in a pose meant to pacify, “It’s okay! Trust me, if anyone understands what it’s like to be in heat, it’s me.”  
  
A series of expressions, starting with indignant outrage and heading towards generally murderous, moved over Regina’s features. She looked about two seconds away from screaming, if only she could find the words.    
  
Ruby sighed. Then, to prove her point, she leaned forward and watched as Regina’s eyes drifted helplessly down her shirt. Several seconds ticked past, and she had to clear her throat several times before Regina’s eyes snapped back up to her face, looking vaguely horrified.    
  
“It’s not your fault,” Ruby tried, “it’s just…the wolf.”  
  
“Well,” Regina croaked, arms crossed defensively and eyebrow raised, eyes snapping firmly to the far wall, “this certainly explains _your_ reputation.”  
  
“Hey,” Ruby said, with a little more steel, “people in dangerously aroused glass houses shouldn’t slut shame.”  
  
Regina’s glare was positively lethal. “Get out of my house.”  
  
 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta’d by the wonderful [midnightbokeh](http://midnightbokeh.tumblr.com/)!

Ruby’s phone woke her from a dead sleep blaring _Hungry Like the Wolf_ , because Emma thought that customizing Ruby’s ringtones was hilarious.

“‘Lo?” she grunted. If this was a telemarketer, she was so going to eat them.

“Hi, Ruby,” came a small, bright voice.

“Henry?” Ruby sat up and blinked blearily at her alarm clock. It was almost two thirty in the morning. “How do you have my number?”

“I’m the mayor’s son,” he answered, a little primly, “I have everyone’s number.”

Ruby fell back against the mattress with a thud. He was Regina’s son all right. “Hi, kid. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m safe. It’s nothing like that. Uhm…” Ruby could almost see him making that scrunchy face, the worried one that looked so very much like Emma. “My mom said she’s been having some werewolf-y problems since the big magic switch. She’s been locked up in our house all alone since yesterday morning.”

“She’s still alone?” Ruby would have thought that surely Regina would have found some company by now. Was that Robin Hood fellow still around? “Where are you?”

“With Emma, at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Mom said she wasn’t sure how the werewolf would…you know, manifest.” Which was probably Regina-speak for she was worried she’d wolf out and eat her only son. Well, Ruby supposed, fair enough.

“I’m worried about her,” Henry said in his still small voice, and Ruby draped an arm over her eyes.

“Me too,” she answered, sleepy and honest.

“Could you maybe go check on her?”

Ruby raised her eyebrows at the ceiling. “Right now?”

“Yeah. I mean, she’s not sleeping.” Ruby could almost hear the smile creeping into his voice. “She’s getting her butt kicked in words with friends.”

Ruby glanced at the clock again. “Shouldn’t _you_ be sleeping?.”

“Yeah, that’s what she keeps saying, but Emma isn’t big with curfews.” Suddenly Ruby was about ninety-five percent sure that Henry’s other mother was sitting right next to him in the Charming apartment, also getting her butt kicked at words with friends (and also probably fretting over Regina, because they were kind of a team now; Team Moms, and if that wasn’t precious Ruby didn’t know what was).

“So,” Henry asked, “you’ll do it? You’ll go see her and give her like, werewolf advice or whatever?”

Ruby tilted her head thoughtfully. After a beat, she rolled out of bed and arched her back in a stretch. She glanced around for pants.

“Yeah,” Ruby barked out a little laugh, “I’ll go over and give her _werewolf advice or whatever_.” Ruby prayed silently that Henry never read up on what exactly it was that happened to werewolves monthly besides the full moon, for Regina’s sake. “Tell Emma I’ve got it covered.”

“Thank you, Rubes!” came Emma’s voice from somewhere close by.

“You’re the best!” Henry chimed.

Ruby rolled her eyes and said goodnight, smiling at the ridiculous little family. She leaned up on tip-toe and cracked open a window, letting the chill night air wash over her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she felt what remained of her wolf shifting, deep and heavy in her bones.

“Go to sleep, crazies.” Ruby said, a yellow gleam in her eye. “Leave this time of night to the wolves and witches.”  
 

* * *

   
Regina stood in the entryway wearing the most obnoxious silk pajamas Ruby had ever seen. Emma hadn’t been joking about the fancy-pants sleep suit; Regina dressed up more for bed than Ruby did for work and it was hilarious.

“It is an ungodly hour, Miss Lucas.” Regina leaned against the doorway and looked down to inspect her fingernails. “Or is this when the Storybrooke werewolf club meets?”

Ruby resisted the urge to tell the former queen that her invitation to the werewolf club had just been revoked on account of her ridiculous PJs. “I have been informed,” she said matter-of-factly, “that you’re losing terribly to a twelve-year-old at a spelling game.”

Regina raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “Is that so?”

“Yep. So, I was thinking maybe I could come help you…spell.” Regina fixed her with an unimpressed stare, and Ruby cleared her throat. “Also I have coffee.”

Regina put a hand on her hip. “Henry sent you to check up on me, didn’t he?”

“Yep.”

Regina rolled out her shoulders, then sighed and stepped out of the doorway. “Very well then.”

Regina took the proffered cup of coffee—soy latte, no whip, a little extra espresso, just like the mayor had always ordered—and led them into what Ruby could only assume was her study. There was a beautiful wooden mantelpiece, a large fireplace, and two couches. The whole place smelled like cider and lingering traces of smoke.

Regina sat down and crossed her legs, sipping at her coffee, and rolled her eyes at the wistful way Ruby was watching the empty fireplace. “Oh, go on. You’ll just need to take the cuff off.”

Ruby grinned, and only set one measly pillow on fire (which Regina promptly put out) before succeeding in bringing a magnificent warm glow to the room. She tucked her feet up under herself on the couch across from Regina and burrowed in to watch the flames proudly.

“I think I’m going to miss lighting stuff on fire,” Ruby said into a surprisingly comfortable silence, sipping her peppermint latte, “it’s pretty underrated.”

“Mm. Just as being a werewolf is, apparently, pretty overrated,” Regina said, a little sourly.

“Yeeeah,” Ruby agreed, “between the accidental murder of loved ones and the going into heat, it is a seriously stressful occupation.” She dug her toes a little deeper into the couch cushion and sighed. “Constantly trying not to fuck or kill anyone is exhausting.”

Regina’s lips teased at a smile. “Indeed.”

She watched Ruby with a bemused expression for several heartbeats. Then a look of annoyance returned to the mayor’s features as she sat crossing and uncrossing her legs several times, seemingly struggling to get comfortable.

Ruby posed a sympathetic smile. “It’s crazy annoying, huh?”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Regina huffed. She sat straightening out her sleeves and clearing her throat. “I…was actually wondering if you could explain to me how you dealt with this for all those years.”

Ruby felt her cheeks go hot. “Uh.”

“ _No_ , Miss Lucas, I don’t mean…” Regina pinched the bridge of her nose. “Besides the obvious. I’ve tried every spell in this very dusty and perverted book to contain _desire_ ,” she says it like a snake that bit her, “but nothing has come even close to helping.”

“It probably doesn’t work that way, mixing wolf’s magic and…you know, normal magic.” As far as Granny had explained it, it was a thing that couldn’t be helped, magically or otherwise. It wasn’t something to fight, it was something to weather—just like a tremendously awkward conversation with her grandmother about going into heat. Ruby squirmed uncomfortably at the memory.

Regina sipped her coffee and strived to sound conversational, to look as if she weren’t itching to claw her own skin, “I wasn’t aware that werewolves experienced physiological changes outside the full moon.”

“The full moon controls the big fluffy transformation but your cycle will control the...this situation.” Ruby gestured in Regina’s general direction. “You must be ovulating.”

Regina’s lip curled. “What lovely timing.”

“Well don’t look at me,” Ruby said, hands in the air, “I didn’t do this.” A few quiet moments trickled past. Ruby wiggled her toes and stared into the fire. “Are you…doing okay?”

Regina laughed, high and sharp, then deflated a little bit.

“So,” Ruby guessed, “no then.”

“I’ve already tried the…usual methods for relaxation,” Regina gave a pointed stare, cheeks darkening into a blush and voice hard in a way that just dared Ruby to make fun of her. Meanwhile, Ruby was a hundred percent not thinking about Regina Mills playing hooky from work to masturbate all day, nope, definitely not. “But,” Regina sighed, rubbing at her temples, “if anything that seems to make it worse.”

“Ah, yeah…” Ruby said, blinking back into focus, “I should have warned you about that. You, uh, need it to be a team effort.” Ruby swallowed. “Getting yourself off isn’t going to work, at least it never did for me.”

“Well,” Regina brushed at wrinkles in her blouse unnecessarily, scowl deepening, “I’m afraid I’m not on true love’s radar at the moment so that’s hardly a possibility.”

Ruby thought about when she’d had her full wolf’s nose and ears and she’d heard Regina’s heart speed up looking at a certain sheriff, smelled a subtle change in body chemistry when they shared a room. Made bold by the absurdity of the situation, Ruby hazarded, “You could try, uh, calling Emma?”

Regina looked as if someone had just slapped her.

“I would no sooner call Miss Swan for help with this than her insipid parents.” All right, so apparently it wasn’t quite time to get that particular train out of the station. Ruby smoothed over her protective streak for Snow and watched the other woman sigh. “I doubt,” Regina added, a little more softly, “that her responsibilities as Savior extend quite so far.”

Ruby shrugged. “I think she’d go for it.”

“Mm.” Regina sat flexing and un-flexing her fingers, staring blindly into the fire—and yes, while it was kind of novel to watch a woman usually so composed squirm, Ruby’s sense of empathy was kicking in. She’d spent too many years struggling with not having anyone kind, anyone _safe_ …

“I can help,” Ruby said suddenly, swallowing hard and ignoring the heat rising in her cheeks. “You know, if you want…since you helped me with the fireball thing.”

(She would have added _if you’re into women_ or _if you’re into me_ , but Ruby knew full well that they’d spent the better part of twenty-eight years flirting over Regina’s morning coffee so, no. She wasn’t going to pretend like she didn’t know that her good looks were on Regina’s radar.)

The mayor of Storybrooke moved to cross her legs, cringed at what Ruby could only assume was a distracting change in position, and then stiffly uncrossed them. God, she’d been like this all day and all night. Ruby knew from personal experience that she must have been absolutely miserable…

Regina leaned forward and hummed softly. “I hardly think that preventing you from lighting up my porch counts as true altruism, Miss Lucas, nor do I think it indebts you to…help me with such an intimate problem.” Then, because the last several years have softened Regina in a way Ruby can hardly believe, she added, “But thank you. I don’t think there’s a soul in Storybrooke who would turn down that offer.”

Ruby tucked her hair behind her ears shyly and rose up out of her seat, stepping around the coffee table. She sunk down onto the same sofa as Regina and watched the other woman frown a little with uncertainty. “Thanks but, uh…” she crossed her own legs, nudging a foot against Regina’s calf, “I’d actually really like to help. You know, if you’d let me.”

Regina opened her mouth and then shut it again.

“Look,” Ruby said, now blushing in earnest, “you’re crazy hot, and I can smell you, and you smell really, _really_ good and I kind of always fantasized about seducing Storybrooke’s unbelievably hot mayor—so, can I please kiss you?”

Regina’s expression flickered into something hungry, her upper lip twitching; but her limbs drew in close, posture guarded. “I’m not sure that’s a very good idea.”

Ruby tilted her head. “Why?”

“Because, I—“ Regina’s arms folded, nostrils flaring, and her discomfort at being so vulnerable was almost palpable. She bristled like a cornered cat, her scent slowly shifting from a blend of arousal towards the sharp tang of fear.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Ruby touched Regina’s hand very fleetingly, then scooted back to the edge of the couch to give her space. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. You don’t have to, I just…it would help, that’s all.” Ruby shrugged and forced a laugh. “I figured better me than, like, Doctor Whale.”

After a moment, Regina exhaled and wrinkled her nose. “Miss Lucas, don’t be foul.”

“Hey, I’m just saying, I’m sexier than Frankenstein.” Ruby gave a dramatized wink and Regina rolled her eyes.

They settled in watching the fire in silence, shoulders and knees several inches apart even with Ruby’s limbs sprawled out, and slowly—very slowly—Regina’s scent eased back into something comfortable. Ruby burrowed back into the pillows and after long minutes began to nod off again, listening to the crackling fire and Regina’s steadying heartbeat.

Just when she’d begun to grow content with the idea of keeping Regina company like this, like friends, she woke to the feel of Regina’s hand slowly drifting over her knee. The air smelled sweet again, rich again, and those fingertips were warm through the fabric of her jeans.

“It’s not that it’s not….tempting,” Regina drawled. A single nail traced up Ruby’s thigh, then back down to the knee. Ruby looked up and found Regina watching her intently, something predatory at the edge of her eyes and in the shape of her lips.

Ruby sat up straighter, suddenly very awake. “Tempting is good.”

Regina chuckled, low and smooth, and Ruby resisted the urge to gulp. Regina’s fingertips circled slowly up the inside of her thigh, higher and higher until Ruby was squirming a little against the touch.

“Miss Lucas,” Regina said in a hard tone. Ruby blinked and dragged her gaze away from Regina’s fingertips to meet her eyes. They were guarded and suspicious, heavy with an unspoken warning. “I’d rather no one else know about this…vulnerability, however temporary it may be.”

Ruby held up two fingers like a scout, “Werewolf solidarity. I don’t want anyone to know that I get this way once a month for always, so,” she offered her most charming smile, “our secret.”

Regina hummed thoughtfully, and Ruby felt a little wave of nervousness ripple through her under the hard gaze.

“Plus, I mean, it was just a thought. You can stop whenever if you don’t like–”

“No,” Regina practically growled, “I can’t.”

Ruby started to ask when Regina’s body twisted, coiled, and then she was suddenly so, so close. A thumb traced over Ruby’s lips, hot breath warm on her cheek. “I’m already so–” Regina stared at Ruby’s lips with dark eyes. “If you kiss me, I’m not going to be able to stop. You don’t understand how powerful I am, Miss Lucas, how dangerous.” Worry moved like a ghost across Regina’s face, so faint and fast it was gone within an instant, her voice a low purr and her hand firm on Ruby’s thigh. “I’m not a stranger to taking what I want.”

Ruby looked up through her eyelashes into impossibly dark eyes. Her own voice felt far away. “I can’t tell if that’s a promise or a threat.”

“It’s a warning.” There was magic swirling at the edge of Regina’s eyes and wolf’s gold spindling, bright and familiar, around the pupils.

Ruby inhaled, decided, and pressed a very small, very gentle kiss to the corner of Regina’s mouth. “It feels like you’re asking me now,” she breathed over the curve of Regina’s lips. “So yes, and please, and call me Ruby.”

There was a moment where the air actually seemed to crackle—because _most powerful sorceress this world has ever seen_ —and then Ruby watched the brown in Regina’s irises disappear.

The kiss was hard and sudden, forceful in a way she should have expected but could never have quite been prepared for, and everything was lips and tongue and Regina’s hands on her like she thought Ruby might get away. Nails scraped faintly over Ruby’s sides, Regina’s teeth caught her lower lip, and when Ruby inhaled she’d lost track of cider, coffee and fire—she could only smell Regina.

She wanted to taste, too, and Ruby surged up to kiss back, deep and curious.

Then all at once the warmth left her. Regina pulled back suddenly, lifted out of reach, and when Ruby arched up like a strung bow a hand pressed her firmly back into the cushions. Regina’s eyes were a swirling mix of gold and purple magic as she looked down through her eyelashes in a pose reminiscent of the Evil Queen. “If you are toying with me, Miss Lucas, so help me…“

“Ruby,” she repeated, “call me Ruby.”

She leaned up and Regina allowed her a smooth, slow kiss. She dragged a hand gently up the inside of Regina’s thigh and grazed the back of her knuckle over the inseam of silk pants, brushing between Regina’s legs. Ruby could feel the gold igniting in her own eyes, her teeth itching to get sharp. She traced the inseam with two fingers more firmly, found where everything was heat even through the fabric, and pressed.

Regina cursed under her breath and shuddered from head to toe.

And maybe it was the swearing (because she had never heard Regina swear, not even when the entire damn town was going to vanish into nothingness or the twenty different times they were under attack) but Ruby suddenly had about as much patience as Regina. They were one single force in motion, and in hindsight she couldn’t really be sure who raked Regina’s shirt up high around her ribs or when exactly Ruby had crawled down off the couch, leaving long, wet kisses along Regina’s ribs, her naval, her hipbones—

But what Ruby was very certain of was that the low litany of moans that filled the air was like music, and that—when Regina lifted her hips and a final tug pulled those pants straight to the floor—there was absolutely nothing underneath them.

She was perfect, dark-skinned and glistening, and Ruby could honest to god feel herself salivating.

She kissed up the inside of Regina’s knee, lapped at the lean muscle trembling at her innermost thigh, and looked up for one last chance to ask permission. The words were on the tip of her tongue when Regina cupped her chin, dragged a thumb slowly across her lips, and then pulled Ruby’s head in.

She listened to the rapid thump-thump-thumping heart and stuttered breath coming from above, and then pressed a warm, open-mouthed kiss to where Regina was slick and flushed, where she was so wet and sensitive it must have hurt—and the sound Regina made was positively obscene.

She licked delicately, tasted slowly, and even though she knew that Regina the Mayor was not quite Regina the Queen—just as Ruby the Waitress was not quite Red the Wolf—there was still something intensely gratifying about hearing the Evil Queen, destroyer of realms and terror of the Enchanted Forest, whine softly in the back of her throat.

Ruby lightly kissed every inch of skin between Regina’s thighs, slowly and thoroughly. She breathed in, exhaled hot air gently, and kept her tongue soft and lazy; licking in broad strokes that touched everywhere fleetingly but nowhere quite enough. She kissed up and down and savored the sweet-strong smell and taste—because this was royalty she was dealing with, the human equivalent of fine wine, and she wasn’t going to let this blow past in a blur—

Nails dragged against Ruby’s scalp, wound into her hair, and a slow roll of the hips beneath her made it clear that Regina had other ideas.

Regina’s eyes locked on her, her pupils blown out wide, and Ruby supposed she really shouldn’t be surprised—because _Queen_ —but somehow the sheer power radiating from the woman who was objectively both small and vulnerable, with her shirt dragged up to her ribs and olive skin bared from the waist down, was striking.

“Miss Lucas,” she ground out, “if you don’t stop teasing—“

Ruby started to hum an answer, but the vibration sent Regina to a whole new level of desperation, drew out a strangled sort of cry. Then it was about five whole seconds before Regina was running the show entirely. She moved Ruby by the hair so her tongue was just so and moaned from deep in the back of her throat. Regina keened, rocked, and Ruby felt about ten feet tall with a heel in her back and a litany of _again, yes,_ and _that_ falling from Regina’s lips in a low rasp; like she just knew her every whisper would be heeded and it was…god, it was really, really hot.

Like, _really_ hot.

It only took a few more whines and one more long, languid roll of Regina’s hips for Ruby to slide a hand down her own pants and let out a muffled groan. She drew tight, practiced circles with her fingertips and with her tongue and _oh god._

Ruby dragged tongue and lips and teeth over hot, slick flesh like she was aching for it, like it were her instead of Regina a fraction of a second away from shattering—but then again maybe it was, because there was a muffled whimpering that she was eighty percent certain was Regina, but that breathy sigh was Regina, that raspy, raspy voice murmuring _good_ and _there_ —and Ruby realized that those muffled whimpers were hers, mouth still pressed to Regina’s wet, slick skin and her own hips starting to lose their easy rhythm, beginning to buck into her own hand.

Above her on the couch, Regina lifted her head and watched Ruby’s hand move between her own legs. She bit back a sharp, strangled sort of sound and rocked into Ruby’s mouth like her life depended on it—like the contact was air and without it she’d drown—

And that was it. Ruby was shuddering and bucking, her jaw starting to ache from the way Regina was pressing into her a little too hard, but she couldn’t give a flying fuck about the pain because the entire world was white-hot-bright where it focused to a single pinprick behind her eyes and achingly, life-alteringly, good where her tongue was pressed to salty sweet skin, where her hand splayed out over Regina’s stomach, feeling the muscles twitch and shudder and _clench_ —

Regina’s voice reached a stuttering crescendo, Ruby felt magic crackle once more through the air, and the low and satisfied groan that left Regina’s lips moved like a physical touch down the length of Ruby’s spine and settled there, warm and perfect.

Ruby’s fingers didn’t stop moving against her own skin until her nerves felt scorched and sharp and her tongue didn’t stop until Regina grew quiet and her hips grew still. Regina’s soft sighs turned into quiet hisses, and Ruby allowed herself to be pulled away from overly sensitive skin.

She nuzzled and kissed absently, pulled her hand free from her pants and rested her head heavily on Regina’s thigh; listening with great satisfaction to the first long, full body sigh above her.

“It’s like being able to breathe again, huh?”

“God yes,” Regina said, voice heavy and sated. Her body was liquid and open, one arm thrown over her eyes and the other still threaded into Ruby’s hair. The sound of crackling fire and slowing heartbeats filled Ruby’s awareness, slowed her racing mind, and Regina’s fingers gently stroked her hair.

After several cozy, comfortable moments Ruby opened her eyes and found Regina looking down at her, dark eyes surprisingly gentle.

“Thank you,” she murmured, her lips parted and eyes soft. Regina traced her fingertips down Ruby’s cheeks and jaw, gentle like adoration, and pressed her fingertips into Ruby’s waiting kiss.

“Believe me,” Ruby said, turning to plant a soft kiss to the inside of Regina’s knee and quirking a lazy grin, “it was my pleasure.”

Regina chuckled lowly, stroking Ruby’s cheek, and let her head fall back into the cushions.

“Your phone is buzzing,” Ruby mumbled, several long minutes later after maybe possibly falling asleep on Regina’s naked thigh. Ruby shifted her legs a little beneath her on the floor, one of her feet was definitely asleep.

“It can wait,” came that thick, gratified voice.

“What if it’s Henry?” Ruby mused, memorizing a freckle on Regina’s inner thigh.

The couch shifted a little as Regina sat up, fixed her with a look, and threw an exasperated arm back over her eyes. “Hand it to me.”

“Yes your majesty,” Ruby teased, crossing arms to move the phone from the coffee table to Regina with her not-sticky hand.

Regina took it and hummed thoughtfully while Ruby burrowed back into her thigh. Thighs made the best pillows, she had decided. She would get the best sleep in the world on a nice soft thigh.

“Everything ‘kay?” Ruby murmured, when Regina’s fingers started to drum thoughtfully.

Regina cleared her throat, then held out her phone and turned the screen in Ruby’s direction. It was that spelling app. Emma had just taken her turn.

S-E-X blinked on the screen in chipper, knowing letters.

Regina flushed a dark brown and Ruby laughed out loud, crawling up onto the couch to curl into Regina’s side—which is where she mostly stayed, with the exception of a few short diner shifts, until the great magic swap had been sorted out and Regina went back to normal.

(And if Regina decided to return the favor the following month when Ruby was the one aching, well, that’s just good manners.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :) If you like my fic, you might also enjoy my [original fiction](http://www.dreasilvertooth.com) or my [fandom tumblr](http://www.nookiepoweredamazon.tumblr.com).


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